Alejandro Garcia Garcia, managing director and regional group head for Latin American banks at Fitch Ratings: “In Fitch’s view, Citibanamex remains a highly attractive piece of the Mexican financial sector. Its competitive lending positioning has weakened gradually over the past years, but this bank maintains some major credit strengths: a very strong franchise in credit cards; a large and well-positioned branch network; and a sound funding profile, largely composed of stable customer deposits. It is possible that the ‘informal’ conditions referred to by President López Obrador might have influenced the number of potential buyers still remaining in the process. When political considerations have the risk of altering the financial planning of a potential acquisition, the price you are willing to pay could be influenced negatively by circumstances such as a space to reduce costs because of potential constraints on layoffs of redundant employees. It is likely that the president’s explicit preference for local investors to acquire Citibanamex might…”